State v. Natale

The judgment is affirmed, substantially for the reasons expressed in Judge Conley’s opinion in the Appellate Division, reported at 348 N.J.Super. 625, 792 A.2d 565 (2002). We add only these brief comments.

On remand, the State may elect not to proceed to a trial on a NERA predicate in which case the trial court must resentence defendant without application of NERA. In the event that the State seeks to have the court impose a NERA sentence, the court shall try the NERA issue to a jury and the jury shall determine, applying the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, whether defendant attempted to…